Police are investigating a case involving the decaying body of a local small businessman found in a car parked at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Tangerang.

The body of Iman A. Safei, a resident of Rawalumbu district of Bekasi, West Java, was discovered by a chauffeur who reported a foul stench from a nearby parked car while waiting for his employer at the parking lot of Terminal 1-C around 1 a.m. on Tuesday. The driver, identified as Ahmad Siregar, reported the odor to two security guards on duty at the parking lot, according to airport police unit chief Sr. Comr. Chuzaini Pattopy.

The details of the homicide are gruesome: Iman’s hands and legs were bound using inner tubes, his mouth was covered with adhesive tape and his neck was wrapped in wire.

“The driver told the airport security officers about his suspicion and they called the police,” he said.

Responding police officers opened the trunk of the vehicle, a Suzuki Grand Vitara, where they found the body of Iman face down.

Zul Hasmar, a forensic pathologist from Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Central Jakarta, conducted the autopsy of the body at Tangerang General Hospital. “The body has started to swell and its color has turned blackish. The body might have been in the vehicle’s trunk for more than three days,” Zul told reporters.

Iman’s relatives arrived at Tangerang General Hospital to identify his body.

“I could tell it’s my brother. I could still recognize him,” Ahmad Daniri, the younger brother of Iman, said.

According to Ahmad, his brother was the owner of a computer shop in West Jakarta.

Ahmad said that Iman left home with an unidentified man on Saturday. When Safei did not return, the family decided to file a missing persons report with the Bekasi Police on March 17.

“We heard the news about a body found with my brother’s ID card on it from a news portal website this morning,” Ahmad said. “We are still waiting for the results of the autopsy. We won’t know much before we get confirmation from the police.”

“The police and the family tracked down the record of an ATM card transaction of the victim,” Rikwanto said. “They found that his ATM card was used to buy items and withdraw money somewhere in Mangga Dua, North Jakarta.”

Rikwanto said investigators were currently looking for a man named D who was reportedly that last person to see Iman alive. (cor)